A 41-year-old lorry driver was jailed for eight years yesterday for raping two teenage girls. Mark Hugman, of Northgate, Lowestoft, drove a 13-year-old girl to a piece of wasteland behind a rubbish dump and told her he liked her before kissing her and raping her.

A 41-year-old lorry driver was jailed for eight years yesterday for raping two teenage girls.

Mark Hugman, of Northgate, Lowestoft, drove a 13-year-old girl to a piece of wasteland behind a rubbish dump and told her he liked her before kissing her and raping her. He also raped a 15-year-old in the cab of his lorry, as well as indecently assaulting her.

At Ipswich Crown Court yesterday, a jury found Hugman guilty of five counts of rape between October, 1987, and Decem-ber, 1995. It found him not guilty on the direction of the judge of another count of raping one of the two girls.

He had denied all the charges.

At the four-day trial, jurors were told that Hugman, who has four children and two stepchildren, offered to walk the 15-year-old girl to her home after kissing her.

But during the journey, Hugman, who denied having sex with either of the girls, stopped off at his lorry. After getting the girl inside, he pounced on her, grabbing her wrists and holding on to her while he raped her.

Charles Myatt, prosecuting, also said the 13-year-old was crying and trying to push Hugman away while he raped her.

Next day, Hugman encouraged her to miss school so he could take her out in his cab, and he gave her a joint of cannabis before raping her again, he said.

Mr Myatt said both girls were virgins when Hugman raped

them.

After the verdict was announced, Hugman's defence lawyer, Simon Spence, conceded that the case constituted a breach of trust and added: "Submission cannot be confused with consent."

But he stressed that Hugman "still has a young family".

Sentencing Hugman to eight years in jail for the five rapes and three years for the indecent assault, the terms to run consecutively, Judge John Devaux said: "There was no use of a weapon and no gratuitous violence. In each case there was a serious breach of trust."

The sentence means Hugman will qualify for release after serving four years in prison but will never be able to work with children.